Vegas1

JP on the CBC right now. A few other ex-WCHLers playing as well including Kevin Clark, Ruegsegger, Bill Sweatt etc. Looks like Jordan Schroeder is a scratch.

So I'm sitting there coaching against this team one day and I look over to the other bench and I notice a guy that looks like Lou Nanne. I say to the other coach, "hey doesn't that look like Lou Nanne" and he says "ya it does". Then we look for the Nanne name on the back of a jersey and sure enough we find a kid with that name. Turns out we were coaching against Lou Nanne's son's team and the grandson was playing. Two things. His grandson is good but I wouldn't regard him as outstanding. He is, however, the grandson of a former NHLer and my guess is that he will continue to develop and remain dedicated to the game... so he should be someone I would keep my eyes on to see if he continues to progress and pass some of his current peer group. Second side of the story. Nobody on our team with the exception of the coaches knew who Lou Nanne was. Despite that, he was a very nice man and very gracious when he came and spoke to us after the game.

Yes I was the one that questioned his ability to play D1 hockey. And yes I have watched about half a dozen games. He still doesn't really want the puck and would rather hit someone than actually carry the puck. When the Sioux have possession or about to get possession in their own zone they are effectively a man short because he will not jump and make himself available for the outlet. Despite all that he has been quite effective as evidenced by his plus/minus. Go figure? Will it eventually catch up to the Sioux? I'm not so sure it will. All I know is if I was coaching against him I would be dumping the puck into his partner's corner nearly each and every-time and then I would be forechecking the crap out of the Sioux because I know his D partner is not going to get the outlet support. Can he play in the NHL with his current skill set? Not a chance, but he has roughly three years left to develop them. I was just merely defending Olsen who is still a year younger and while not playing up to his potential this year, is still likely to wind up in the NHL. Olsen will be considered a defensive defenceman when and if he gets there and I can assure you his offensive skill set is at another level relative to MacWilliam. By the way, I'm not the only one on this planet that thinks that.

Ok. Stop while your ahead. MacWilliam is a full year older than Olsen and there is a lot of development that can happen or will happen in the next 12 months. MacWilliam is actually more effective than I thought he would be, but please don't make him out to be the next coming. It also sounds like Olsen still needs to grow up a bit. Considering that he is a 91, I would expect that. MacWilliam on the other hand is still very one dimensional and will never play in the NHL unless he improves his offensive skills. Coaches in the NHL want to see intelligent offensive plays from their D once in a while, even from their more defensively oriented ones. Just getting MacWilliam to release behind his own net for a D to D seems to be enough of a hurdle for him, never mind actually getting a shot off once in while in the O-zone. If this coaching staff is able to get MacWilliam to become part of the attack when it is appropriate then I will shut my mouth. Until then, I will just wait.

Well that is where Gregoire was going as well until someone convinced him otherwise.

Matty is a huge Sioux fan but he is still quite small and not likely to get much bigger. His size, both short and very slight, is not in the mold of a Sioux defencemen although he was always a pretty smart kid. Very respectful young man as well. If the Sioux can find room for him, I'm sure they wouldn't be disappointed. Definitely a project, with most of the work being him getting bigger and stronger.

Don't feel sorry for Shyiak. Based on what I know he is overpaid.

If that's a check from behind then maybe we should all start playing ringette. He caught MacWilliam off balance with a little push of his arm. I hope the refs let these teams play. The Bison are playing their third game in 48 hours. Making them kill penalties all game shouldn't be what the Sioux are looking for in an exhibition. At least I hope not. U of M comes down every year with the intention of giving the Sioux a good game. They nearly always play this game with some disadvantage and this year is no different. Maybe the Sioux should be forced to come up to Winnipeg after playing a two game series and then kill penalties for an entire game. We'll see how fast they look under those conditions.

I have one of my boxes, Diamond 9000 coming in great. The old Fortec has too bright a picture. Not really sure why. Signal quality on both boxes is 85 and 75, respectively.

Can someone phone FSSN and tell them this isn't football. They have the brightness cranked up way too high for hockey.

Is it just me or is anyone else seeing too bright a picture?

This year's Bison team is not quite the push overs that have visited in the past. There are three 88's on this team that won a World Championship with the older Toews a few years ago. They may not have enough this year, but watch out next year or the year after. Some of these boys are character players and can play.

Just to add a bit of detail and let you know just how important Manitoba is to this program. Manitoba : gregoire, toews, genoway, zajac Hextall also has manitoba connections.

It will be an interesting battle between these two young outstanding hockey players, both of them being key members of their respective teams. Wilson was at one time on the Sioux's watch list. Too bad he got away, but oh well. These two played together for several years in Winnipeg, both winter and summer. They've shared many experiences, winning a number of championships, and they will both be fighting like hell to make sure that the other one doesn't move on to the final four. Good luck Sioux. I hope you take it this weekend.

O'Donnell - Great kid, hard worker, has some skill. Will be in the mold of the current Zajac kid. He will not set the world on fire but will be a very competent player for many years to come at UND. Not at the same level as St. Croix and he is older than St. Croix. St. Croix is a special prospect in the mold of Jon Toews. He has already committed to MJ since his brother played with one of the coaches and they are comfortable with that situation. UND was, however, very close to getting him which means they should not stop trying to get these guys.